Falling Night (P)

[Unity]

The sun was falling, dipping low in the sky with the stars beginning to peek through the night sheathe. The songs of owls echoed through the trees that laid along the plains Unity was currently stationed on. Staying low the loner stuck to the tall grass, making sure she would be out of the feathered predator's view. No one wanted to mess with these 'night hawks', especially in the dark. She could see in the dark but her vision was at least ten times better during the day.

At this moment in time she was hunting as well, stalking a mouse that would appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. She swore there were at least a hundred holes over a few rabbit lengths of ground.

Either way she stalked on, following the strongest of the scents until she spotted it. Black beady eyes glinting off the low moonlight. Tail flicking she dropped down and stalked forward much like that of a snake, and before long she was on top of it and holding it down. That was until she finally made the killing bite by snapping its spine and ending it quickly. Unity had to admit, she did love the warmer seasons. Always full of prey.

[Deleted]

Dusk was, without a doubt, one of Blaze's favorite times of the day.

The loner was in the middle of chasing fireflies through the field that evening. He grinned to himself as he reared up and trapped one between his forepaws gently, then settled back on his haunches. The tiny glowing insect flew away the moment Blaze released it. Oblivious to both the predators and prey of the night, he happily followed a feline scent trail that had caught his attention. Maybe this cat would want to chat with him!

It took Blaze a while to successfully locate Unity. Upon catching sight of the grey female, he waved his tail in greeting and trotted over. "Hi! Enjoying the night hunting?"

[Unity]

She had begun tearing into the mouse when a flash of bright orange caught her eye, it was moving closer. Had someone really spotted her? In all this grass? She groaned to herself, watching this tom with a curiosity
but keeping up a level of weariness that would make sure she wasn't dying today.

This tom was so... off. He was so friendly. Unity had never met another loner who was actually... somewhat kind. Not yet tainted by the rouges and Deathclan cats that poisoned this here forest. But she decided to reply and start a conversation anyway. It was always a good idea to make allies. Even though this one was bound to be killed in the next moon.

"Er, uh. Yeah? I guess." She mewed, still crouched down over the prey, her teeth stained with crimson in the moon's silver rays. "Uh, what... uh. Bring you round?" Unity questioned, her ears perked and eyes curious, tail swaying ever so slightly.

[Deleted]

Blaze glanced at the mouse for the briefest of moments, stomach giving a faint rumble to remind him that he hadn't eaten in a while. The smell was tantalizing. But this wasn't his dinner, and he supposed he'd have to try his own luck with hunting in the tall grass later.

Not that he was likely to catch anything. For a cat who lived on his own, the orange tom's survival skills were incredibly lacking. Sometimes it'd take him all day to hunt down a single morsel. Combat was worse - Blaze had never seen a point in fighting other cats, so he hadn't bothered to learn. His carefree lifestyle was going to come back and bite him one day.

Anyway - talking to the locals was surely a good use of his time. Blaze figured he'd better get to know this stranger. "Just curious," he told Unity with a tentative grin. "I like knowing who else is living around here. My name's Blaze!"

[Unity]

Unity gave him a shy smile, still completely confused as to why he was acting so friendly... and he was staring at her meal. Was this some sort of trick? Getting to her paws she pushed the mouse behind her. The young cat's lack of height showed how young she was. Still only around 8 moons, and she had learned close to nothing about survival. In fact this catch was about how much she caught in 3 days. But she kept her cool, her curiosity beginning to peak.

"I'm Unity." She mewed cooly, her silver eyes still cold and hard. Looking over the tom she measured out his every strength. To her, if he knew anything about fighting he could easily take her out. Not that she was extremely slender or anything, she had some muscle. But at the same time this was a basically full grown cat. "The name suits you."

But what else is underneath that skin...

[Deleted]

The young adult felt his whiskers droop when Unity shifted to stand defensively in front of the mouse. He had almost forgotten how careful loners could be with their meals. Sure, Blaze wouldn't ever think about stealing, but the other cat's guarded movements disappointed him somehow. Not everyone was quick to trust like he was.

"Nice to meet you!" Blaze brightened up slightly upon hearing her comment about his name. "Mom picked it out. She said it was 'cause the woods over there was on fire a long time ago, and she saw it burn. Wanted to remember it." He whisked his tail in the general direction of the trees on the horizon: TreeClan's forest. The wildfire had been many seasons ago. Blaze was curious, though - weren't there cats living in that territory? Had they been injured by the flames?

Oh right, he was probably going off on a tangent. "Have you always lived out here, as a loner?"

[Unity]

The fire in the forest? The trees didn't even look like they had ever been charred... not from here anyways. She imagined all the cats, running in terror from their home as it was ablaze. How did it not all burn down? Unity figured if his mother could see it from where she was located either she was of the clan or it was a significant fire. It was a depressing way to name someone.

Pulled from her thoughts when he came up with a question about how long she had been a loner she merely shrugged and sighed. "For as long as I can remember..." She trailed, her eyes searching the ground as she tried to explain her past in as little as possible. "After... after the river I really don't remember."

Shivers rolled in waves through her body as she recalled the cold depths, everything was dark. That was until she broke the surface. White water kept swallowing her down until she finally blacked out. It messed something up inside of her... she didn't even know the extend to her scarring yet.

[Deleted]

"Huh? The river? D'you mean the one that goes through the canyon?" Blaze wasn't quite tactful enough to avoid what seemed like it might be a sensitive subject. So sue him - he was curious. It had always been a driving factor in many of his actions. In fact, if the orange tom's father hadn't kicked him out of the den when he was five moons old, Blaze might well have left to explore by his own choice.

His father had never been much of an agreeable cat. The youngster could remember constant arguments between his parents, which was why he'd always preferred playing outside during the sunny days. Besides, there was so much to do when he wasn't cooped up in that tiny old den! Blaze had grown up watching the birds in the sky, pawing at the bugs he'd sometimes find under rocks, and rolling around on his back in the long grass. His mother told him that there were other cats who didn't live like that; cats who chose to live with the pink-skinned creatures in their unnatural dens. It was safe there, she had said, warm and dry with plenty to eat.

But that's not worth the price of freedom, little Blaze, so we walk a different path.

He suddenly noticed that Unity was trembling. "Are you alright…?"

[Unity]

Still overtaken by the shivers she nodded. "I'm ... fine. Just fine." Finally catching her bearings again and turning her attention back to the conversation and out of the depths of her mind. " It's just my past, and water. Doesn't mix well."

Feeling slightly more comfortable now she circled back around and laid down next to her half eaten catch, beginning to feed on it again before it got cold.

"So Blaze, " Unity started, her mouth full of flesh. "I know I've been out here hunting... but I'm not completely sure why you have ventured all this way. You know, unless you're from these parts."

She had met a couple cats from Deathclan, but other than that they had all been loners, like her.

[Deleted]

The tom could think of a few incidents that might cause a cat to have such a bad relationship with water. A flood, perhaps - Blaze had never seen one himself, but he'd heard that they sometimes swept over the plains. Maybe that was why the Twoleg nests by the fields looked abandoned and in disrepair? But then again, that was just his guess.

He tipped his head a bit to one side. "Oh! Yeah, I live around here. It was just a nice evening to have a walk around. Although I smelled a bit of scary rogue scent earlier… not DeathClan. Something else. D'you think they're stirring up trouble?"

[Unity]

Unity

Unity shrugged, she hadn't noticed anything weird going on lately. Mostly because she kept to herself, not to mention Kot hadn't said anything about Deathclan that was new. "Nah, the only scents I pay attention to are prey."

Well yeah she did catch the occasional cat scent but she was no where near an observant cat, didn't care much for her surroundings since most of the cats she had met weren't that hostile. At least not to the point where they would attack just for the sake of attacking.

"Why have you noticed anything besides scents?"

there are two kinds of people in the world; those who look to the future, and those who look to the past.

nette of gs

[Deleted]

"Oh," Blaze replied with a slight frown. He was pretty oblivious, yeah, but he did like to know who was coming and going in the plains. New rogues could mean big trouble for locals like himself. They were bigger, meaner, more volatile… well, not that it meant much. Pretty much everyone was larger and harsher and less carefree than Blaze. He'd heard stories about tame cats who could put up a better fight in comparison to him.

He figured he'd explain the situation a bit better. "I didn't see anything or anyone, but rogues are bad news. Especially if they start trying to form gangs around here. There used to be some powerful gangs a while back, I heard - hopefully those don't come back…"


| Quick update; I'm dealing with some real life stuff and will probably be inactive. |

[Unity]

Unity

Unity didn't know much of how to fight. Surely she could learn at some point, maybe she would have the chance to ask Kot sometime but as of this moment all she had was her words and masking personality. She guessed that this 'fighting'  was made up of a bunch of jumping and scratching but there was supposed to be some sort of 'art'  to it.

"Guessing you can't fight too well?" The smokey tortoiseshell mewed, finishing off her meal finally before throwing it in the bushes. "I think we should both test out our skills."

Stopping herself quickly she added, "But you know... no claws."

It's all good and understandable, I've had the same thing going on for awhile and I have found it hard to even get on here. Hope it all works out.

nette of gs

[Deleted]

At the mention of fighting, Blaze shrank back. "I, um…" he stalled. The orange-furred feline didn't want to annoy Unity by turning her down, but he hated combat. Even if it was for practice and without claws. It was part of the reason why he'd avoided the Clans - they seemed too focused on battles. Their adults were called warriors! What sort of warmongering group did that?

He bit his lip. "S-sure?" Blaze tried unconvincingly. Most likely, he'd faint or something if he actually went through with this. Fighting was just not for him.

[Unity]

Unity

The multiple colored feline smirked and nodded, throwing what was left into the bushes and lengthening her spine into a stretch, letting the bones crack effortlessly. She wasn't old, younger than most loners but recently she hadn't really been doing much. Greenleaf was being too kind to her.

"So let me lay out some ground rules." She started, as she began pacing through the grass. "Teeth are allowed, just don't draw blood." This rule was reasonable to say the least. Drawing blood created infection, and unless you knew medicine or knew someone who knew it then there was no point in even trying to live.

"You're already aware there is to be no use of claws." Stopping in her tracks she flicked her tail vigorously behind her than began again.

"And if need be that you tap out, just go limp."

there are two kinds of people in the world; those who look to the future, and those who look to the past.

nette of gs